Ajax [not active anymore]

Starting over
Much to my annoyance, I had to start over again. I lost, or corrupted a savegame-file and could not advance to my third season with Ajax. But it does give me the opportunity to hit the reset button and start over again.

New players, new ratings
With Ajax making giant leaps in the Europa League, many players have had their ratings adjusted. Also some transfers have been taken care of: Anwar El Ghazi has moved to Lille and David Neres has joined Ajax! In the first summer no transfers will take place.

The Cruijff Strategy
For those who don't know, formally AFC Ajax is a Limited company with its product (football) being developed according to the Cruijff Strategy: this, in short, emphasizes the role the Academy and Youth Development holds within the club and also makes the attacking high-pressing wing-play (also known as Dutch Total Football, or attacking 4-3-3) as good as mandatory at every level of the team.

Less known is that managers must conform to this strategy, otherwise they can't work at Ajax. That's why a lot of youth coaches are ex-players of Ajax, or people acquainted to the football approach of the Amsterdam side. All youth coaches must rotate teams within a season at least twice, so that they get used to training children in the U9's as well as near pro's from the U17 and U19 squads.

Frank Peereboom
Cruijff's methods are taught at the Cruijff University, an educational institute for sports management. The most prominent person coming out of this trajectory so far is Frank Peereboom (in real life, assistant coach to Aron Winter, coaching the U19 squad). He, in the summer of 2016, takes over as manager from the departed Frank de Boer in this fictional story.

Goals for the season
The goals are similar to where Ajax are now in real life, compete for the title until the last day (critical), reach the semi finals of the EURO League (important) and of course pay attention to Youth Development (critical).

Looking at the squad as a whole, I have to say there are some very exciting players, It's all about developing then and keeping them if you are to go far in Europe, sorry to the previous save mess up but glad you have started a new one straight away !

During Pre-season, new Ajax-manager Frank Peereboom took his squad to the peaceful Alps of Switzerland. In the country that runs like clockwork, the young Ajax team made a blistering first impression. The young men from Mokum made it all the way to the final, where Leverkusen were too strong on penalties.

'It all started somewhat rusty', Peereboom admitted. Ajax lost the opening game to BSC Young Boys (1-0). 'They follow a similar club policy to ours. A handful of experience mixed with loads of promising youngsters. I was highly impressed with their goalie (Yvon Mvogo, 19) and their central midfielder (Denis Zakaria, 19). Maybe I'll ask Marc Overmars (Director of Football) to send a delegation after all', the Ajax-boss said with a tone, somewhere between sarcasm and dry truth. 'The boy plays brilliant for his age and physically appears very strong.'

'After that first uneasy game, we started to show good football. And most were physically capable to keep that up for another four games. That was a positive surprise.' Ajax recovered from the defeat and won against Crystal Palace (2-0) and Krasnodar (3-0).

Highlight were the semi finals of this European Pre-Season Cup, where Ajax grabbed Girondins de Bordeaux by the throat from the get go and won in overwhelming fashion (4-0). Bayer Leverkusen applied a similar high pressure tactics which delivered a very enjoyable final (1-1).

'I think we're ready for the season. We've shown what we can be capable of. It's now a matter to teach these young men to keep it consistent for 10 months.' Ajax starts the Dutch Eredivisie on Sunday August 7th, away against regional rivals AZ Alkmaar. The first home game is a week after against ADO Den Haag.

It's always good when you spot some interesting gems in a team you play against... It gives you that little joy of saying "I discovered him myself!" that you do not always get when scouts bring layers to your attention.

The official debut of Frank Peereboom saw Ajax not getting the proper reward for their efforts. Ajax went onto the pitch in a 'classic' 4-3-3 formation, adapting an ultra attacking mentality and high pressure tactics. It completely overwhelmed the home side AZ Alkmaar, but fortunately for them Ajax did not have a very good day in front of goal, save veteran Lasse Schøne.

Never getting really a proper chance, AZ did manage to reach the back line and get some corners towards the end. One ball fell very fortunately in front of Muamer Tankovic who scored the equalizer. Ajax kicks off the season by dropping points, while the supposed rivals did win their opening round.

The recently baptized Johan Cruijff ArenA hosted Ajax' first match of the season in beautiful summer weather. An early goal by Danish sensation Kasper Dolberg only made the temperature rise further. Compatriot Lasse Schøne doubled the score soon after. More goals would've been scored if Ajax was a little sharper and a little less complacent.

Schøne (30) however is on fire at the start of the season, scoring his third goal already as he curled in a free kick from 25 yards out. After receiving a yellow card, attacking midfielder turned left back Daley Sinkgraven was looking for redemption. He found so in injury time, scoring 4-0 in a match that also saw Ajax-boss Frank Peereboom giving Justin Kluivert his official debut in the first team of the Amsterdam side.

AJAX patiently worked itself to their first away victory breaking the deadlock on the hour mark. Again, the Danish tandem Lasse Schøne / Kasper Dolberg took 2/3 of the production, while the latter provided the assist to the goal scored by Amin Younes.

Groningen wasn't really capable putting anything against the visitors from the Dutch capital, who are now up to third. Arch rivals Feyenoord however, haven't dropped a single point or a goal so far. With champions PSV struggling at the start of this season, it is shaping to become a classic clash between Rotterdam's Feyenoord and Amsterdam's Ajax.

Ajax firmly stays in pursuit of Feyenoord and Utrecht who meet each other in the next playing round. The second home game under Frank Peereboom was a copy of the first, with Ajax opening the score rapidly; Bertrand Traoré needed only 150 seconds to net in the first goal.

The home side called it curtains before half time, with Amin Younes scoring and captain Davy Klaassen converting a penalty after Lasse Schøne was pulled to the ground. Playing all or nothing, Willem II came close to 3-2 in the 80th minute, which could've made the game somewhat exciting again. But no doubt the Ajax crowd preferred to cheer for Abdelhak Nouri's maiden goal in the Dutch Eredivisie AND the Johan Cruijff ArenA.

Few fantastic results there, great to see you freely scoring goals like you are, Ajax still chasing the top two with perfect starts, I kind of hope they do well so you have some competition in the league and not run away with it this season

Yes, though the element of realism is depending on how FIFA 17 calculates results, because while in a match the play comes very close to real life. World Class, 6 minutes per half is very realistic. But I also hope it's going to be a two way fight down to the wire with F********, sorry can't get it out of my keyboard

But, I'm thinking about a second career that is more of a challenge (one level up). I just need to find the right team for that...., more of a survival story of sorts. We'll see.

But I also hope it's going to be a two way fight down to the wire with F********, sorry can't get it out of my keyboard

LOL!

By the way, I agree that after the initial draw results are now starting to come through. Keep it up man, it's still way too early but you really don't want that team from Rotterdam to run away and build a huge gap, do you?

Yes, though the element of realism is depending on how FIFA 17 calculates results, because while in a match the play comes very close to real life. World Class, 6 minutes per half is very realistic. But I also hope it's going to be a two way fight down to the wire with F********, sorry can't get it out of my keyboard

But, I'm thinking about a second career that is more of a challenge (one level up). I just need to find the right team for that...., more of a survival story of sorts. We'll see.

I agree with you, I think it is realistic. I use the same options you mention. Probably you will find a rival in Feyenoord (BTW... it is just one league every 18 years, it could be worse... and I am thinking about Madrid ). But your Ajax definitely look very strong in the domestic competition and Europe is the big big challenge.

Twente normally speaking is an opponent Ajax usually struggles with. It was therefore fortunate that Lasse Schøne again was able to score after 24 minutes. Up to that point the equally matched game bounced up and down from goal to goal.

But the storm that was expected of Twente never came. Manager Frank Peereboom was even confident enough to change Kasper Dolberg and Nick Viergever, who thus saved energy for the first EURO League game, coming this Thursday. Daley Sinkgraven doubled his season tally to two goals 15 minutes before the end.

Good display against Twente, and great to see Schøne in such a form... I used to love how he played back in FIFA 14, a firm point of my main FUT team (and not the only Ajax player there, I also had the Ajax black kit!).
Nice to also see you gave some rest to Dolberg and Viergever.
Keep it up!

Still solid and I guess it tastes better when you defeat a team that traditionally is difficult to beat.

Feyenoord seem unstoppable though. It looks like it is going to be the rival to beat.

Where's PSV?

PSV are currently 5th

I've been thinking about a new story, but I decided to leave that for 18. I'm going to fully focus on Ajax for the remainder of FIFA17, though at the end of August I'll probably shift attention towards the new F1-game coming out. So at least three months of Ajax to come.

There are many things where the previous Frank (de Boer, manager) and the current Frank (Peereboom) differ. But both have in common that the first European fixture under their lead was an away game that was won. Back in late 2010 De Boer defeated AC Milan (0-2), while the current Ajax did not give Celta Vigo a single moment to breath: 0-3.

Celta's only serious attempt at goal came directly after the kick-off when Iago Aspas hit the post. After that it was one way traffic, with none other than man in form Lasse Schøne opening the score. Kasper Dolberg, Davy Klaassen and Daley Sinkgraven could've widened the margine earlier and though on target, their shots did not end up in the net.

Neither did Dolberg's second serious attempt, but Davy Klaassen converted the rebound in front of open goal. First touch on the ball by David Neres (who replaced Dolberg) turned out to be a spot on cross on the head of Traoré who thus settled the end score at 3-0. Celta are fortunate the score did not turn out bigger.

Really sorry to hear that, it happens more often than you think with stories on here when people buy a new laptop or something or save over another save, hope to see you back with a new one for Fifa 18 anyway